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DangerBoy

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  1. Will soon be doing a fresh fill on a new (to me) used fibreglass hot tub. Here's my starting water chemistry: CH 160 mg/L TAlk 114 mg/L pH 7.8 Free Chloride leaving the water treatment plant is at 1.1 mg/L so presumably >1 when it reaches me. Is the CH of 160 close enough or should I try to somehow lower it to at least 150 or less? If best to lower it, how should I go about doing that? I understand the process of lowering pH to ~7 and aerating to raise pH and lower TAlk. Given the CH of 160 mg/L or whatever I can lower it to, what final TAlk concentration should I be shooting for? 60 mg/L? TIA
  2. Has anyone ever tried out one of these inexpensive Chinese dual chlorine/pH testing meters you see on eBay and Amazon, etc.? https://www.aliexpress.com/item/PC101-PH-Meter-Portable-Measure-Water-Quality-PH-CL2-Chlorine-Tester-Level-Meter-PH-Tester-for/32871566187.html I'm most interested to know if they could be any good at measuring free Chlorine so let's limit the discussion to just that part of it. This looks to me like a simple amperometric device with a basic anode and cathode. I'm guessing it measures a change in current caused by the chemical reduction of hypochlorous acid at the cathode based on the assumption that the current flowing is proportional to the (free) chlorine concentration. If you read the instructions for how to get it to read chlorine levels in the ad, it appears what you need to do is measure the free chlorine levels using a known reliable method and then take a reading with this probe to determine the calibration constant. Thereafter, you use the probe to measure free chlorine applying that calibration constant. is this even reliable? I'm thinking that pH and temperature are important variables here that would have to be held constant but assuming you were always careful to conduct your measurements with this probe at the same pH and temperature, could such a device produce halfways reliable and repeatable free chlorine level measurements?
  3. I'll soon be resurrecting a very nice condition 1995 Hot Springs Grandee. It has a Fresh Air II Ozonator system in it that no longer works. I have to do this all on the very lowest budget possible due to economic circumstances so I've been looking for ways to get an ozonator working in the tub for cheap. Here's what I'm thinking of doing. I can get a cheap Chinese corona discharge ozonator that's supposedly rated at 700 mg/hr at 40% RH for about $15 USD shipped on AliExpress. Here's a link to the ad: The flow through on the unit is rated at 3.1 L/min. Link to cheap CD Ozonator I know that 700 mg/hr is way more than what the OEM Fresh Air II and III systems put out but I only halfheartedly believe the output rating quoted in the ad. To be safe, I'm going to assume it's at best 1/3 of that. Then I have to take into account the loss of efficiency due to operating in a somewhat humid environment. I'm guessing that with all that taken into account, that little unit will probably maybe only put out 100 mg/hr which is probably still more than required for a 500 US gallon tub. I figure to make the unit last longer and to avoid over ozonating the tub I could put it on a repeat cycle timer so it doesn't run all the time. The question is, what would be a good on/off cycle to try first? Something like 5 minutes on/5 off? 15/15? 1 Hr/1 Hr? For something like $4 USD shipped I can get a repeat cycle timer on AliExpress that will let me program in just about any on/off cycle I want. In case other information is needed, the Silent Flo 5000 24 hr circulation pump on the tub is rated at 3-5 US gal/min which is 11.4 - 19 L/min in real units. ;) and the tub isupposedly has an 8 - 10 foot long ozone kill chamber downstream of the circ pump. For $15 USD shipped on the ozonator I'm not expecting a long life but for that price I don't mind replacing one once a year or so. I'll buy two at a time so I always have a spare on hand. Does this sound like a worthwhile experiment or are there some hidden dangers here that I'm not seeing? TIA for your feedback and ideas.
  4. He Everyone. Just joined and this is my first post. I first want to say that I'm really impressed from the amount of knowledge and experience here. I'm finding the articles on water balancing and the Dichlor/Bleach method very interesting. I used to have an old 1990 Hot Springs Grandee but I effed up a few years ago and let it freeze. I just managed to find a really nice and well maintained 1995 Grandee for sale and have acquired it. I stripped my old one of all useful parts so now I have a large supply of spare parts for the '95. I'm hoping those should help me keep that sucker going for a long time to come. When I was running the '90, I used the Beachcomber Care Free system which I' ve learned from this forum is basically Dichlor, MPS and Boric Acid. I really liked that the water didn't reek of chlorine or bromine and that I didn't come out of the tub reeking of chemicals. I'd like to use a similar system again. First things first though. My '90- Grandee didn't have an ozonator system and I seemed to get by just fine without it. This '95 tub has an old Freshwater II corona discharge system on it but I'm sure it doesn't work any longer. I've been looking at possible replacements but in the process of doing my research I came across some scientific articles that suggest that Ozonators in spas aren't all that effective so the first thing I want to ask is are Ozonators really worth it and should I even bother replacing the one in this tub or should I just unplug it and not bother with replacing it? I understand this is a very controversial subject but let's keep in mind the particulars of my tub. It has a 24 hour circ pump which I think will help the case for an ozonator but I think the water from the circ pump enters the tub just at one point, fairly close to the water surface. Maybe only a foot or so below the water surface. I can see that perhaps most of the Ozone may flash off and not really do much in the majority of the tub so I'm thinking that may hurt the case for an ozonator on this tub. What are people's opinions on this issue?
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